Peters, Saldaña clash in race for 52nd Congressional District

In January, Democrats Scott Peters and Lori Saldaña shook hands and settled to direct their resources toward ousting Republican Brian Bilbray from the House of Representatives. Their pact was short-lived.

An acrimonious rivalry erupted across the redrawn 52nd Congressional District, making the June 5 primary among the most closely watched contests in the region and drawing interest from national organizations divided over which Democrat is best equipped to unseat the seven-term congressman from San Diego.

Bilbray’s seat was targeted by House Democrats in their bid to wrest away control of the lower chamber after California’s once-a-decade redistricting process shifted his North County-based district south to more Democratic-friendly communities — from Poway through Clairemont, La Jolla, downtown San Diego and Coronado.

The Republican registration advantage is less than 3 percentage points — a classic swing district that Democratic President Barack Obama carried by 12 points in 2008 and Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman, a Republican, won by eight points in her unsuccessful bid for governor in 2010.

Bilbray said he remains a good fit for the new district, but declined to comment on the dynamic between Peters and Saldaña.

While much of the focus has been on searing attacks trained at each other, the two major Democratic candidates have sought to appeal to voters by talking about jobs and the economy, education and energy, and Medicare and Social Security.

Peters, a port commissioner for San Diego, cast himself as a consensus builder with a record of getting things done. A former president of the San Diego City Council, he pointed to working with Democrat Donna Frye and Republican Jim Madaffer on water recycling, with Republican Brian Maienschein on completing Highway 56 and with a bipartisan coalition to secure a unanimous vote for expansion of the Convention Center.

“My whole pitch is we know how to get things done,” Peters said. “The state was not in good shape in 2010 when (Saldaña) left the Assembly. I don’t know what she brought to San Diego that changed people’s lives.”

Peters’ jobs plan calls for investments in national infrastructure such as highways and bridges, higher education grants and financial aid and scientific research by ensuring adequate funding for the National Institutes for Health.

He’s also focused on policies that help create American jobs, emphasize greater energy independence, investing in developing alternative fuels, promoting wind and solar, and giving carmakers incentives for producing more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Peters, who says he’s spent a “considerable” amount of his own money blanketing the district with mailers and television ads, counts as supporters much of the local Democratic establishment, including current and former federal, state and local lawmakers: Bob Filner, Christine Kehoe, Dede Alpert, Toni Atkins, Mary Salas, Todd Gloria and the AFL-CIO.

Saldaña, an educator who served three terms in the Assembly, pointed to her environmental record reducing greenhouse emissions and expanding sustainable building materials, as well as her work on veterans affairs and issues affecting military families. She worked to open preschools to armed-service families and shepherded legislation to ensure children of active-duty members could be successful in school.